However, he did not say whether the government had any plans to proscribe the IRGC.
In opposition, Labour had pledged to proscribe the group and in February 2023 then-Shadow Foreign Secretary David Lammy told Parliament: “We would proscribe the IRGC, either by using existing terrorism legislation or by creating a new process of proscription for hostile state actors.”
However, last week Politico reported that the government was set to ignore calls to proscribe the IRGC, despite backing the group’s proscription while in opposition.
The government has taken some actions against the Iranian regime following its ballistic missile attack against Israel on October 1, sanctioning Iranian military figures and organisations.
These included senior figures in the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, Iran’s Air Force and Farzanegan Propulsion Systems Design Bureau (FPSDB), an organisation linked to Iran’s ballistic and cruise missile development.
Last week, Conservative leadership candidate Robert Jenrick said the IRGC should be banned, comparing it to terror organisations that had been fully proscribed by the Tories during their time in office, Hezbollah and Hamas. Previously the British government had made a distinction between the political and military wings of the organisations.
At the Conservative Party conference in September Jenrick said it was “a mark of shame” that his party hadn’t proscribed the IRGC while in government.
